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Vulcan history
, Matron of Vulcan Philosophy||The Forge}} Vulcan history encompasses the Vulcans' long journey from the ancient civil wars that nearly destroyed , to their embracing of logic through the teachings of Surak. Origins According to Vulcan mythology, all creation arose from a "Garden of Eden"-like place known as Sha Ka Ree. ( ) One possible scientific explanation for the origin of Vulcans came to light in 2268, with the discovery of Sargon and his people. When Sargon explained that his people had colonized many worlds in the galaxy half a million years ago, Spock theorized that Vulcan might have been such a colony world. According to Spock, "That would tend to explain certain elements of Vulcan prehistory." ( ) In 2369, evidence was discovered which suggested that many of the galaxy's humanoid races were descended from a single humanoid race, the originators of the basic anatomy. Around 4.5 billion years ago, they seeded many worlds with a DNA code to guide evolution to a form resembling their own. As Romulans, a Vulcan offshoot, displayed evidence of these DNA sequences, Vulcans were implied to have originated from those ancient genetic seeds. ( ) , which is set roughly a century before "Return to Tomorrow". If Sargon's people resulted from DNA by the ancient humanoids themselves, both "Return to Tomorrow" and "The Chase" are in fact compatible.|Rigelian physiology was stated to be "very similar" to the Vulcan one in , though it was never explained why. Similarly, Tuvan Syndrome afflicted Vulcans, Romulans and Rigelians; both facts could indicate a common origin of all three species.}} Ancient history Proto-Vulcans "Proto-Vulcan humanoids" was an anthropological term that was used for the Bronze Age Mintakans, who maintained a mostly peaceful society and possessed an aptitude for logic. ( ) Proto-Vulcan visual art and literature, such as Clash on the Fire Plains, were early examples of Vulcan civilization. ( ; ) Certain offshoots of the Vulcans used musical notes as words, with each tone akin to a letter of an alphabet. ( ) Pre-Surak times During "pre-Surak" times, Vulcans manufactured bracelets. ( ) According to its long collective memory, Vulcan had never been conquered, making the idea of a conqueror inconceivable to 23rd century Vulcans. ( ) , where McCoy stated "Now I know why they were conquered" (regarding Vulcans not drinking alcohol). However, McCoy's statement was part of an informal conversation between him and Spock and could have been meant metaphorically or jokingly.}} However, although the memory went back farther than that of Humans, there were still many gaps in Vulcan prehistory. The Obelisks of ancient Vulcan were lost for many years but were an important archaeological discovery when they were finally excavated. ( ; ) is "8877," while the year in Human standard was 2237. Simply assuming a Vulcan year to equal one Earth year results in the Vulcan year 0 to correspond to 6640 BC.}} Around 2700 BC, Vulcans were barbaric, war-like and "nearly killing themselves off with their own passions." According to Spock, "Vulcan, like Earth, had its aggressive, colonizing period; savage, even by Earth standards." ( ) In a 2153 conversation, T'Pol told Hawkins, "There was a time in the past when we were an extremely violent race. We nearly destroyed ourselves. Paranoia and homicidal rage were common." ( ) Some Vulcans began to mentally train themselves to suppress their emotions by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, though they continued following a polytheistic religion with rompish celebrations and many deities, including gods of war, death, and peace. Although many religious holidays of this time, like Rumarie, ceased to be observed over the following centuries, some rituals were preserved, e.g., the Vulcan wedding ceremony. It remained unchanged from the "time of the beginning" at least until the 23rd century and included the Koon-ut-kal-if-fee, which allowed any betrothed to call a challenge to the death. ( ; ; ; ) By the 9th century BC, Vulcans were capable of space travel and Master Haadok and others had founded the monastery at P'Jem on another planetary body. ( ) When Vulcans first went into deep space, they did not have to face as many encounters with hostile aliens as Humans did centuries later because there were fewer warp-capable species at that time. ( ) Early Vulcan space exploration included several Vulcan expeditions famous enough to be taught at schools on Earth in the 22nd century. ( ) , the Vulcans were established as having achieved space flight at a time when they were at peace, two hundred years after Humans had achieved space flight, i.e., no earlier than the 22nd century.}} Time of Awakening :For main article, see Time of Awakening. By the 4th century, Vulcan was tearing itself apart. The Vulcans' rampant emotions, combined with a hostile warrior culture, led to many wars using terrible weapons like atomic bombs and the Stone of Gol. But out of this emerged a philosopher named Surak, who proposed leading a life governed by logic rather than emotion. His teachings quickly spread and were recorded in the Kir'Shara, finally showing Vulcan a path towards peace. Spock once commented the significance of logic for Vulcan history with the words "We were once ... wildly emotional, often committed to irrationally opposing points of view, leading, of course, to death and destruction. Only the discipline of logic saved my planet from extinction." Although his katra was saved, Surak himself later died of radiation sickness on Mount Seleya, which eventually became one of the most revered sites on Vulcan. ( ; ; ) However, one group still opposed allowing logic to govern their lives. "Those who marched beneath the Raptor's wings," as Surak called them, fought a final war with the rest of Vulcan and were eventually forced to leave the planet, becoming the ancestors of the Debrune and the Romulans. ( ; ; ) According to Q, it was one of Quinn's "self-destructive stunts" that created a misunderstanding which ignited "the hundred year war between the Romulans and the Vulcans." ( ) Janeway to know about it. It must have taken place no later than the 21st century, when Quinn was imprisoned.}} 19th to 21st centuries Return to space According to Soval, it took Vulcan almost "fifteen hundred years the Time of Awakening, i.e., until the [[19th century]], to rebuild and travel to the stars." ( ) According to Quark, Vulcans attained warp capability some time after 1947. ( ) By 1957, Vulcans had several warp-capable starship classes in use, such as the starship and a type of survey ship. ( ) After the invention of warp drive, it took Vulcans a hundred years to design an engine capable of breaking the warp 2 barrier. ( ) . This would imply that Vulcans achieved warp 2 in the mid-21st century, i.e., around the same time as Humans broke the warp barrier. See "Little Green Men" – Trivia for more information.}} By the mid-20th century, Vulcan had made contact with the Tellarites. Vulcans considered Tellarites argumentative, but "generally reliable," and they were known to pass on Vulcan distress calls to the Vulcan High Command. ( ) Contact with the Andorians also came during the early 20th century. According to the Vulcans, their first contact "seemed promising," "despite their heightened emotions." However, it was soon discovered that "they were duplicitous," wishing to only honor "agreements that didn't conflict with their interests." Soon, a border dispute – dating back to the 1950s and lasting two hundred years – began between the two powers, due to their neighboring home systems and the Vulcans being suspicious towards the Andorians' having a territorial and militaristic nature. The Andorians on the other hand felt the only thing that kept Vulcan from invading Andoria was "the threat of massive retaliation." ( ) By the mid-20th century, Vulcans were observing Earth and the Human civilization that inhabited it, but never made contact because they were deemed too primitive. ( ; ) The Vulcans were startled, however, by the launch of the first Human-made artificial satellite into orbit, "Sputnik", in 1957. Surprised that Humans were advancing towards spaceflight so quickly, Vulcan survey ships began making routine flybys through the Sol system to keep an eye on how Humans were developing. Despite these Vulcan watchers limiting their observations to remote studies from high orbit, one of the survey ships did crash on the North American continent of Earth while observing Sputnik. Although the crew had to spend some time among the local population until their rescue, they kept their identities hidden. ( ) In 2016, a Vulcan starship encountered the Klingons near H'atoria, and was immediately attacked and destroyed. In all subsequent encounters, the Vulcans fired upon the Klingons on sight, earning the respect of the Klingons and paving the way for formal relations. Centuries later, Michael Burnham referred to this policy as the "Vulcan Hello". ( ) In or around 2052, the Vulcan starship T'Plana encountered a class 5 neutronic storm. Unable to outrun the storm's wavefront, the ship was destroyed and all crewmembers were lost. ( ) In the early 2050s, the Vulcans dispatched a first contact mission to the Arkonians, who had recently achieved warp capability. However, similar to the initial relations with the Andorians, the Vulcan first contact mission was soon recalled, as the Arkonians proved to be "suspicious and deceitful." Over the following century, Arkonian distrust towards the Vulcans grew into intense hatred. ( ) Interactions with neighbours Vulcans were aware of Earth's World War III, but they didn't intervene because they felt it was a local problem they should not get entangled in. ( ) On April 5th in 2063 however, the Vulcans were the first to make formal contact with the Human race, when a routine scouting mission noticed Zefram Cochrane's first Human warp-speed flight. The survey ship followed Cochrane's vessel back to his base in Bozeman, Montana, to meet the man who had achieved Earth's first faster-than-light travel, and subsequently established formal diplomatic relations with Earth. An alliance that would last for centuries to come was formed between the two worlds, though the Vulcans initially refused to share advanced warp technology with Humanity; Vulcan historical records would later describe a "first contact with a savagely illogical race". ( , ; ) During those initial years, Vulcans were sometimes seen with distrust, anger, or even violence by Humans. ( ) In the mid-21st century, Vulcan-Andorian tensions rose when the Andorians terraformed a class D planetoid at a strategic position on the frontier between the Andorian and the Vulcan systems. They named the planetoid Weytahn and refused to allow the Vulcan High Command to inspect the colony in order to search for possible threats in the form of military installations, provoking the Vulcans to forcibly evacuate the planetoid's population. Sometime between 2058 and 2063, it was one of V'Lar's first responsibilities to negotiate the first territorial accords between Andoria and Vulcan. In 2097, a treaty was signed in which the Vulcans officially claimed Weytahn, which they re-named Paan Mokar, and a surveillance satellite was placed in orbit of the planetoid in order to enforce the accord. ( ) 22nd century Shortly before or in 2104, a Vulcan science vessel surveyed Berengaria VII, reporting it was home to dragon-like reptiles which, according to the report, were over two hundred meters in length and breathed fire. ( ) By the early 22nd century, Vulcan was engaged in interventionist politics. In 2122, the ruling government of Agaron wanted to forge better relations with Vulcan and asked for assistance in combating local crime, after which the Ministry of Security sent 109 surgically altered operatives to the planet to infiltrate various criminal organizations in order to topple them. ( ) In 2137, Syrran rediscovered a katric ark that contained Surak's katra, which he subsequently became holder of. Syrran moved on to create the Syrrannite underground movement around him, with its eventual goal to return Vulcan to the true path of pacifism and logic laid out by Surak. ( ) In 2143, a group of V'tosh ka'tur, Vulcans who wished to no longer suppress their emotions, left Vulcan aboard the Vahklas under the command of Captain Tavin. ( ) Vulcan as a regional power By the early 2150s, Vulcan was a regional power in the Alpha Quadrant. ( , et al.) Vulcan ships were already capable of warp 6.5 or even warp seven, something which United Earth Starfleet vessels only achieved about a decade later. Vulcan combat cruisers were powerful ships, one of them easily able to overpower three Mazarite ships, which had posed a serious threat to an ship. ( ) The Vulcan High Command had rocky relationships with several species such as the Andorians, to whom relations occasionally teetered on the brink of war. ( , et al.) Nevertheless, among the tensest relationships remained that with the Arkonians, who had developed a substantial hatred towards Vulcans since their first contact a century earlier. Arkonian military vessel captains would be wary of any ship that had even a single Vulcan on it. ( ) established that the Vulcans had no formal relations with the Nausicaans prior to 2151. Captain Archer speculated that this was because the Vulcans found Nausicaans smelled even worse than Humans.}} Prior to 2152, Subcommander T'Pol claimed that the Vulcans had made no direct contact with the Romulan Star Empire, but had heard rumors about the Romulans being aggressive and territorial. ( ) Vulcan had better relationships with Mazar, United Earth, and Coridanite. When the Mazarites considered their government entrenched in corruption, they asked the Vulcans for help, who then assigned V'Lar as their ambassador to Mazar. By early 2152, she had collected sufficient evidence against the corrupt officials, and, with the help of , returned to Vulcan. ( ) Risa was stated to have "many diversions" for Vulcan guests, with T'Pol having visited Risa before, indicating an already established relationship between Vulcans and Risians.}} Although many Humans believed the Vulcans were holding them back from their true technological potential, e.g., during the Warp Five program/NX Project of the 2140s, Vulcan considered Earth one if its most important allies "for over a hundred years." ( ) Vulcan diplomats claimed to have prevented a Klingon attack on Earth following the Broken Bow Incident. The Vulcan star charts were an important guide for the early travels of Enterprise, Earth's first warp five-capable starship. ( ) As the Vulcan High Command believed Humans, and specifically Jonathan Archer, to be somewhat irresponsible, a Vulcan science officer was assigned to Enterprise and Vulcan vessels continued to observe the Starfleet vessel during its first months in space. However, in crisis situations the Vulcans assisted Enterprise and Starfleet in their operations. ( ) During the Xindi crisis, Vulcans did not provide any substantial help apart from supplying some information about the Delphic Expanse. ( ) As for their old Andorian adversaries, however, the Vulcan High Command stayed very alert. It maintained a highly sophisticated surveillance station close to Andoria beneath the monastery of P'Jem in order to guarantee the safe "observation" of their "aggressive" neighbor. Using the disguise of an ancient Vulcan monastery, the facility was able to spy on the Andorian population while staying unnoticed. In 2151, Shran, a commander in the Andorian Imperial Guard, unveiled the secret of P'Jem with the help of the crew of the United Earth starship Enterprise, thereby starting Human-Andorian relations and dealing a crippling blow to Vulcan prestige. After the Andorians destroyed the monastery later that year, however, the High Command began blaming Starfleet and Sub-Commander T'Pol, who was serving aboard Enterprise, for the loss of P'Jem. This resulted not only in T'Pol's mother being expelled from the Vulcan Science Academy but also in an impairment of Human-Vulcan relations, including an immediate cessation of joint fleet operations with Starfleet. ( ) , the joint fleet operations between Humans and Vulcans were resumed only a few months after they had been called off.}} Another hot spot in the cold war between Vulcan and Andoria was Coridan, a class M planet rich in dilithium ore but suffering from a civil war in the 2150s. In this conflict, rebels, backed by the Andorian Imperial Guard in violation of the Tau Ceti Accords, tried to overthrow the chancellor and her corrupt government, who was in turn supported by the Vulcan High Command, since Vulcan tried to maintain its trade partnership with Coridan. ( ) In 2152, a new open conflict arose on Weytahn/Paan Mokar, which was reclaimed by the Andorian Empire after having been deserted for nearly sixty years. With the conflict about to escalate, Shran, who was leading the Andorian invasion forces on the planetoid, requested Captain Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise as a trustworthy mediator in order to negotiate a cease fire. After both sides laid down their arms, Ambassador Soval of Vulcan resumed negotiations with the Andorians. ( ) Vulcan reformation Subsequent to the crises of P'Jem and Paan Mokar, the High Command gained more control over civilian affairs. Furthermore, Administrator V'Las of the High Command was also in contact with a deep-cover Romulan operative on Vulcan, who had already infiltrated the Vulcan military at some point before 2149 and was attempting to facilitate a Romulan-Vulcan reunification. Under V'Las' leadership, the High Command persecuted the Syrrannite sect led by Syrran and T'Pau, who claimed that Vulcan no longer followed the true teachings of Surak. Over the centuries following the death of Surak, his teachings had been subject to numerous interpretations and possible revisions, resulting in a loss of much of the original intent. In 2154, V'Las falsely claimed to have proof that the Andorians were developing a weapon based on Xindi technology, and planned to invade Andoria in order to preempt this threat. For this purpose, the High Command secretly massed an attack fleet near Regulus, outside the range of Andorian listening posts. As these plans were developing, agents loyal to V'Las bombed the United Earth Embassy and framed the Syrrannite T'Pau for the act. Jonathan Archer, investigating the Syrrannites, was briefly joined with the katra of Surak, and re-discovered the Kir'Shara, an artifact containing the original writings of Surak. During the course of the investigation, relations between Earth and Vulcan soured to the point that Vulcan ships opened fire on Enterprise to the horror of Minister Kuvak and the Syrrannites. After being driven from Vulcan orbit, Ambassador Soval and Commander Tucker warned the Andorians of the planned invasion, but Soval was terribly tortured when the Andorians didn't believe them. Eventually Soval was able to convince Shran of the impending assault and the Vulcan attack fleet lost the element of surprise (see Battle of Andoria). As the battle got underway, Archer and T'Pau brought the Kir'Shara into the High Command's headquarters, justifying the Syrrannites' position and enabling Minister Kuvak to challenge V'Las' increasingly illogical behavior that was threatening war with Andor and Earth. In short order, the attack on Andoria was canceled, V'Las deposed, and the High Command disbanded. V'Las' Romulan contact also departed Vulcan, although he claimed the recent events were but a delay and that the Romulan-Vulcan reunification was just a matter of time. Kuvak and T'Pau formed a new transitional government, which promised to pursue peaceful policies and end its restrictions on Earth's technological development and expansion. T'Pau said it would take years to translate all of the writings, but the discovery of the Kir'Shara transformed Vulcan society, initiating a widespread return to the true teachings of Surak. ( ) As of 2154, capital punishment still existed on Vulcan for a small number of offenses, including treason. ( ) The Coalition of Planets and the Federation :See also: Federation history In late 2154, Starfleet agreed to assist Andorian and Tellarite diplomats to resolve a long-standing trade dispute between them. This, as well as the prior withdrawal of their deep-cover infiltrator from Vulcan, which was forced by actions of Captain Archer and the Enterprise, caused the Romulan Star Empire to become aware of the threat posed by a closer partnership between Vulcan, Earth, and their neighbors. ( ) The Star Empire now attempted to destabilize the region and thereby precipitated the Babel Crisis, during which a secret mission by the Romulans involved the use of two Romulan drone ships. The Romulan ships were able to camouflage themselves as various other vessels and managed to spread distrust and hostility among local powers around Vulcan. The Romulans nearly succeeded with their plans but Captain Archer of the Enterprise was able to settle the dispute and allied the Vulcans, Andorians, Humans, and Tellarites in their effort to find the drone ships by forming a multi-ship sensor grid. Due to the recent disbanding of the High Command, many Vulcan vessels no longer had full crew compliments, which made Minister T'Pau being able to dispatch only 23 vessels. Nevertheless, Archer's newly forged alliance was able to hunt down and destroy the drone ships, thereby altering the result of this Romulan mission to the exact opposite of what it was intended to achieve. ( ) With the averted escalation of the Babel Crisis, Vulcan, Earth and other worlds realized the value of their joint work and were convening a conference in 2155 to discuss the founding of a Coalition of Planets. The conference was disrupted by a Human isolationist movement called "Terra Prime", which managed to garner short-term support amongst the populace. The movement even cloned a terminally deficient Vulcan-Human hybrid to support their claim that interspecies rapprochement was fundamentally flawed. Terra Prime issued an ultimatum demanding that all aliens had to leave the Sol system, which ignited spontaneous protests around a Vulcan Compound, amongst others. Although Soval, the Vulcan representative at the conference described the situation as troubling, Terra Prime's demands were ignored, as there was no indication the Vulcans had withdrawn from their consulates in Berlin and Canberra after the ultimatum had passed. After Terra Prime's activities were ended, Archer resumed the conference with a passionate speech for joint exploration, thereby earning the applause of all delegates, including Soval. ( ) Several participating species at that conference became welded together in 2156, when the conflict with the Romulan Star Empire escalated into the Earth-Romulan War. A humiliating defeat of the Romulans by an alliance of Vulcan, Earth, Andorian and Tellarite forces at the Battle of Cheron in 2160 effectively ended the war and led to the establishment of the Romulan Neutral Zone between the two power blocs. ( ; ) In 2161, one year after the Earth-Romulan War was decided, the old war allies, with the consent of the Vulcan Council, founded the United Federation of Planets in San Francisco, on Earth. ( ; ; ) suggests that a Representative T'Jan was the Vulcan at the forming of the Federation, though the clipping was not seen on screen.|The novel Last Full Measure suggests that the Vulcan signatories of the Federation Charter were Soval, T'Pau and Solkar.|In , Gretchen J. Berg theorized that when the Federation was founded, there were many Vulcans who saw it as an experiment that was going to fail, and that the Logic extremist movement might be a "branching off" from those Vulcans.}} 23rd century Iloja of Prim, a Cardassian serialist poet active during the in the 23rd century, had to spend an exile on Vulcan, where he met the joined Trill Tobin Dax. ( ) In the mid-23rd century, a Vulcan science mission discovered a subspace rupture in the Hanoli system. The Vulcans attempted to seal the rupture with a pulse wave torpedo, but instead caused the rupture to expand exponentially. The entire star system, including the Vulcan mission, was wiped out. ( ) Federation membership with some unease In the 2230s, a Vulcan faction known as the logic extremists bombed the Vulcan Learning Center in an attempt to kill Michael Burnham, a Human child who was studying there. The extremists opposed Vulcan participation in the Federation and the integration of aliens, particularly Humans, into Vulcan society. Although the assassination attempt on Burnham, who would in fact move on to become the first Human to attend the Vulcan Science Academy in 2245, failed, the logic extremists continued to exist. In 2256, a logic extremist named V'Latak attempted to assassinate Burnham's adoptive father, Ambassador Sarek, and even high ranking officers, such as Starfleet Admiral Patar, would be among the faction's followers as of 2257. ( ) Despite these xenophobic tendencies, Vulcan remained an integral part of the Federation during the of 2256-2257 as exemplified by the services of individuals like Admiral Terral, but also Sarek. ( ) His quick and logical responses during debates (such as with Tellarite Ambassador Gav) brought Sarek recognition. He was even asked to come out of retirement to represent Vulcan at the Babel Conference in 2268, where his government strongly promoted Coridan's admission to the Federation. Over the following decades, he served as a personal adviser to the Federation President and was involved in the Khitomer Accords. ( ; ; ; ) By the second half of the 23rd century, there were Starfleet vessels with entirely Vulcan crews, e.g., the , and Vulcan merchants were a common sight in and around Federation space. ( ) In contrast to these examples of involvement, T'Pau had become the only individual who had ever turned down a seat on the Federation Council by 2267. ( ) In a derogatory statement, the Klingon Ambassador called Vulcans the "intellectual puppets of the Federation," while arguing before the Federation Council in 2286. Seven years later, the daughter of the Klingon Chancellor, Azetbur, underlined this posture by calling the Federation a "Homo Sapiens-only club." ( ; ) 24th century Integral Federation members By the 24th century, Vulcan remained one of the principal Federation members, and was deeply involved in all levels of that society. By 2366, the Vulcans had a saying, known to the Federation: "We're here to serve." ( ; ) A good example of this attitude was the Treaty of Alliance, which finally established a firm friendship between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, and whose drafting and negotiation during the first half of the century was mainly attributed to Sarek of Vulcan and his son, Spock. ( ; ; ) Vulcans were also highly integrated in the command structure of Starfleet, namely with high-ranking officers like admirals Savar, Sitak and T'Lara. ( ; ) As had already been the case in the 23rd century, some Starfleet vessels had entirely, or almost entirely, Vulcan crews – for example, the and the . ( ; ) Deviant elements Despite its deep integration into the Federation, in the 2360s an isolationist movement began to emerge, which advocated for Vulcans to isolate itself from the rest of the galaxy, fearing the "pollution" of Vulcan culture, somewhat similar to the logic extremists of the 23rd century. These isolationists stole a piece of the Stone of Gol in 2369 from a Vulcan museum and then began searching for the remaining parts of it. The movement suffered a setback when one of its members, Tallera, was arrested and Vulcan authorities began an active search for the movement's members. ( ) had the Vulcans actually secede from the Federation. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)}} A number of Vulcans, such as Sakonna, also joined the Maquis in order to oppose Federation policy regarding the Federation-Cardassian Treaty of 2370. ( ) In 2368, a renewed attempt at a Vulcan-Romulan reformation/reunification almost resulted in an invasion of Vulcan. It began when Ambassador Spock went to Romulus because the new Proconsul Neral convinced him to be ready for opening formal relations with Vulcan. However, this form of "cowboy diplomacy" was in no way authorized by the Federation Council or Starfleet. It soon turned out to be a Romulan attempt to gain a foothold within the Federation by using the underground Romulan-Vulcan reunification movement as a cover. The incident culminated in Romulan forces entering Federation space aboard Vulcan transport vessels and moving towards Vulcan under a guise of peace. However, their cover was exposed and the Romulans destroyed their own forces, while they were heading back to Romulan space. ( ) Despite this setback, Spock stayed on Romulus, continuing to work for a rapprochement between Vulcans and Romulans over the following two decades. ( ; ) Exploration of the Gamma Quadrant and Dominion War After the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole in 2369, Vulcans were at the forefront of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant, e.g., the T'Vran. Upon encountering the Wadi, a Vulcan ship was the first to make formal contact with a civilization from that region of the galaxy. ( ) Vulcan science vessels later encountered the Rakhari and found the remains of the Hur'q civilization. ( ) Unfortunately, the Bajoran wormhole did not only bring scientific possibilities for the Federation and especially Vulcan, but also the Dominion threat. In late 2373, the Dominion War broke out and, during its early months, the Fifth Fleet had to fight Dominion forces near Vulcan. ( ) When Betazed fell in 2374 it meant a direct threat to Vulcan, a danger which became even more grave as the Dominion began building up its forces on the newly conquered world later that year. ( ) However, the danger to Vulcan never materialized as the Dominion War ended in late 2375 with the Federation Alliance emerging victorious. ( ) writers toyed with making Vulcan the planet that was conquered by the Dominion in "In the Pale Moonlight". However, they decided to go with Betazed, as Vulcan carried "too much weight."}} Destruction of Romulus and Spock's disappearance In 2387, Ambassador Spock's efforts to facilitate an eventual Romulan-Vulcan reunification came to an abrupt end, when Romulus was threatened by a nearby supernova. Although, the Vulcan Science Academy provided Spock with to stop the supernova, Spock could not prevent the destruction of Romulus. Nevertheless, he successfully prevented the supernova from spreading further by creating a red matter singularity, which, however, also pulled him and the pursuing Romulan mining ship Narada commanded by Nero into a black hole. ( ) Alternate timelines Mirror universe In the mirror universe, first contact between Vulcans and Terrans occurred in 2063, but immediately turned violent when Terrans killed the crew of the . By 2155, the Vulcans had been subjugated by the Terrans, with several Vulcans serving on Terran starships. However, another group of Vulcans partcipated in a rebellion against the Terran Empire with several ships. ( ) Over a century later, the rebellion was still ongoing with Vulcans being a part of it, including , also known as "The Prophet". One of the titles of then-emperor was Overlord of Vulcan. ( ) }} By 2267, another Vulcan, (Sarek's son), had risen to the position of first officer aboard the , being granted several privileges such as Vulcan personal guards. ( ) After an encounter with James T. Kirk, Spock rose through the ranks and eventually became commander in chief of the Terran Empire. He implemented reforms making the Empire more pacifistic. However, those reforms eventually led to its downfall, with the Empire conquered by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, who subjugated the Vulcans; by the 2370s, Vulcans such as participated in the Terran Rebellion. ( ; ) vessels, in 2256 only Terrans were observed as Starfleet members. Then, by 2267, Vulcans such as Spock again could serve as officers, him even being first officer of a major starship. In the following decades, Vulcans must have gained even more prominence in the Empire since Spock eventually was able to gain control of the Empire itself. Consequently, while other formerly-subjugated species such as the Bajorans could become full members of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, the Vulcans were apparently treated as slaves alongside the Terrans.}} Alternate reality In the alternate reality, created by the Narada appearing in 2233, the Vulcans continued their Federation membership. In 2258, shortly after Spock had arrived from the prime reality, was attacked by Nero. Starfleet received a Vulcan distress signal and immediately dispatched a fleet of ships from Earth, most of which were swiftly destroyed by the Narada. The planet was destroyed, although the succesfully evacuated the Vulcan High Council. estimated that not more than ten thousand Vulcans had survived, making Vulcans an endangered species. ( ) A year later, a refuge had been founded for the remaining Vulcans called New Vulcan. The new government of the Vulcans was the Confederacy of Surak. Spock would remain on New Vulcan until he passed away in 2263. ( , ) Timeline *'2,700 BC': Vulcan civilization of this time is described as barbaric, war-like, aggressive and savage. *'3rd millennium BC': Vulcans begin to mentally train themselves to suppress their emotions. *'9th century BC': Master Haadok and others found the P'Jem monastery on another world. *'4th century': Time of Awakening – As Vulcan is consumed by atomic wars, Surak proposes to embrace logic as a way to peace. Although his katra is saved, he later dies of radiation sickness on Mount Seleya. "Those who march beneath the Raptor's wings," leave the planet, becoming the ancestors of the Debrune and the Romulans. *'14th century': The religious holiday of Rumarie ceases to be observed on Vulcan. *'19th century': Vulcan has rebuilt its civilization and returns to space travel. *'Early 20th century': First contact occurs between Vulcans and Andorians. *'1957': Vulcans make unofficial first contact with Humans when a Vulcan survey ship, which had been investigating the launch of Sputnik I, crash-lands on Earth. *'2016': After a Vulcan starship is destroyed by the Klingons, the former react with a strict fire-first-policy, which earns the Vulcans respect and eventually leads to formal diplomatic relations. *'2050s': Vulcans make first contact with the newly warp-capable Arkonians. Their relationship quickly sours to a point where Arkonians would bear deep hatred towards Vulcans. During this time, the Vulcans are also aware of the Third World War on Earth, but choose not to interfere. *'2063': Official first contact between Vulcans and Humans takes place after the observes Humanity's first warp flight and then lands in Bozeman, Montana to meet its pilot. *'2097': After the Vulcan High Command forces its evacuation, a treaty is signed in which the Vulcans officially claim the Andorian planetoid Weytahn. It is renamed Paan Mokar, and a surveillance satellite is placed in orbit in order to enforce the accord. *'Unknown': A Vulcan serves on a Human ship for 10 days, setting a time record that stands until 2151. *'2137': Syrran discovers a katric ark containing the katra of Surak, which he then takes into his own mind. *'2151': Hidden beneath the monastery of P'Jem, a Vulcan listening post used to spy on their Andorian neighbors is uncovered by the crew of the United Earth starship and members of the Andorian Imperial Guard. After a warning and its subsequent evacuation, the installation is destroyed by the Andorians later that year, thereby dealing a severe blow to Vulcan-Andorian relations, which are already tense due to both power's ongoing vying for political influence on the dilithium-rich planet Coridanite. *'2152': Vulcan-Andorian relations heat up further as the Andorian Empire tries to reclaim Weytahn nearly sixty years after it has been deserted. With the help of Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise, Ambassador Soval negotiates a cease fire and both sides resume their negotiations. *'2154': Vulcan Reformation – Being secretly influenced by the Romulan Star Empire, the Vulcan High Command under Administrator V'Las assumes a very aggressive stance towards the Andorians, with the Weytahn cease fire having been but a ruse to buy time for an invasion of Andoria. V'Las' government also openly persecutes the Syrrannite-sect led by Syrran and T'Pau, who believe Vulcan is no longer following the true, pacifist teachings of Surak. With the help of Surak's katra (temporarily possessed by Captain Archer of the Enterprise), the Kir'Shara containing Surak's original writings is rediscovered, immediately causing V'Las to be deposed, the short-lived Battle of Andoria to be aborted, as well as a fundamental adjustment of Vulcan society and policies. T'Pau subsequently forms a new government, which contributes a number of ships to a joint Vulcan-Earth-Tellar-Andoria fleet formed by Archer later that year in order to locate two Romulan drone ships and thereby thwarting yet another Romulan attempt to destabilize that region of space. *'2155': Ambassador Soval participates in talks in San Francisco, Earth, aimed at forming a Coalition of Planets including the Humans, Andorians, Tellarites, and others. Despite terrorist acts by the xenophobic Terra Prime movement, which instigates protests around the Vulcan Compound and tries to drive all non-Humans out of the Sol system, the conference can eventually be resumed. *'2156-2160': Earth-Romulan War – The conflict with the Romulan Star Empire escalates into open war. A humiliating defeat of the Romulans by an alliance of Vulcan, Tellarite, Andorian, and Earth forces at the Battle of Cheron in 2160 effectively ends the war and leads to the establishment of the Romulan Neutral Zone between the two power blocs. *'2161': In the aftermath of the Romulan War, Vulcan, Earth, Tellar, and Andoria formalize their alliance by founding the United Federation of Planets in San Francisco, Earth. *'Mid-23rd century': The entire Hanoli system, including a Vulcan science mission, is wiped out when the latter attempted to seal a subspace rupture with a pulse wave torpedo. *'2256': During the , Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan attempts to respond to a purported Klingon peace overture, but his mission is intercepted by logic extremists. *'2268': Sarek supports Coridan's entry into the Federation at the Babel Conference. *'2280s and 2290s': Sarek serves as personal adviser to the Federation President. *'1st half of 24th century': Sarek and his son Spock are instrumental in negotiating the Treaty of Alliance, establishing a firm partnership between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. *'2368': In an attempt to facilitate rapprochement between the Vulcans and their Romulan cousins, Spock joins the underground Vulcan reunification movement on Romulus. However, what appeared to be an official backing of the movement by the Romulan government turns out to be a ploy to secretly occupy Vulcan with Romulan troops. The plan can be averted, though, and Spock continues to support the reunificationists on Romulus. *'2369': The Bajoran wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant is (re-)discovered and Vulcan expeditions are at the forefront of its exploration, including the very first initial contact with a civilization from that part of the galaxy. *'2373-2375': Dominion War – Vulcan has to face recurring threats by Dominion forces, none of which materialize, though. *'2387': The Vulcan Science Academy provides Spock with to prevent the destruction of Romulus by creating an artificial black hole, albeit without success. Ambassador Spock subsequently goes missing as he is pulled into the black hole. Appendices See also *Interstellar history **Federation history **Andorian history **Human history **Romulan history External link * de:Vulkanische Geschichte fr:Histoire vulcaine it:Storia di Vulcano ja:ヴァルカンの歴史 History, Vulcan Category:History Category:Deleted and unused material in background